Former head of UH School of Theatre and Dance dead at 77

Updated 10:32 am, Saturday, February 16, 2013

Sidney Berger directed 'At Home at the Zoo' by Edward Albee at the University of Houston in 2009. Berger became chairman of the drama department in 1969, when there was a faculty of three.

Sidney Berger directed 'At Home at the Zoo' by Edward Albee at the University of Houston in 2009. Berger became chairman of the drama department in 1969, when there was a faculty of three.

Photo: Gary Fountain, Freelance

Image 2 of 5

Sidney Berger, director of the University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance and producing director of Houston Shakespeare Festival, poses for a portrait at the Wortham Theatre on the university campus Tuesday, July 24, 2007, Houston. Berger is stepping down as the director of the UH School of Theatre and Dance. He will remain the director of the Shakespeare Festival. He has been with the university for 38 years. ( Brett Coomer / Chronicle )

Sidney Berger, director of the University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance and producing director of Houston Shakespeare Festival, poses for a portrait at the Wortham Theatre on the university campus

Sidney Berger, left, director of the University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance and producing director of Houston Shakespeare Festival, is shown in this undated handout photo with playwright Lanford Wilson in this copy photo shot Tuesday, July 24, 2007, Houston. Berger is stepping down as the director of the UH School of Theatre and Dance. He will remain the director of the Shakespeare Festival. He has been with the university for 38 years. ( HO / Chronicle )

Sidney Berger, left, director of the University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance and producing director of Houston Shakespeare Festival, is shown in this undated handout photo with playwright Lanford

Sidney Berger, left, director of the University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance and producing director of Houston Shakespeare Festival, is shown in this undated handout photo with composer Jerry Bock in this copy photo shot Tuesday, July 24, 2007, Houston. Berger is stepping down as the director of the UH School of Theatre and Dance. He will remain the director of the Shakespeare Festival. He has been with the university for 38 years. ( HO / University of Houston )

Sidney Berger, left, director of the University of Houston School of Theatre & Dance and producing director of Houston Shakespeare Festival, is shown in this undated handout photo with composer Jerry Bock

Berger, 77, also was the founder and longtime artistic director of the Houston Shakespeare Festival, which presents two free productions at Miller Outdoor Theatre each summer.

When Berger became chairman of what was then the university's drama department in 1969, it had a three-person faculty and 30 students. When he retired as director of the theater school in 2007, it boasted a faculty of 15, with 300 students majoring in the discipline.

At the request of his successor, Steve Wallace, Berger stayed until 2010, teaching classes and continuing to head the festival, a professional project of the theater school.

Noted for his teaching and directing skills, Berger attracted national and international attention to the theater school by importing celebrated theatrical talents as professors, including playwrights Edward Albee, Lanford Wilson, Ntozake Shange and Mark Medoff; directors Jose Quintero and Peter Hall; and veteran Broadway producer Stuart Ostrow. He also brought award-winning writers, including "Fiddler on the Roof" composer Jerry Bock and "Barnum" librettist Mark Bramble, to create new musicals for the university's Children's Theatre Festival.

Other productions

Besides directing one of the Shakespeare productions every summer from 1975 to 2010, Berger also directed shows at other companies, including "All in the Timing" at the Alley Theatre and two Albee classics, "A Delicate Balance" and "All Over," at Stages Repertory Theatre.

"Houston lost a little bit of what makes it so special when Doc passed away," Wallace said Friday, using the nickname by which Berger was known to students and friends.

"His work was his life, his life was his work. He was a strong and powerful advocate for the UH School of Theatre and Dance and the Houston Shakespeare Festival. As chair of the department for almost 30 years, he oversaw thousands of students, ushering new faces into careers and building a reputation still with us today."

N.Y. childhood

Berger spoke only Yiddish for his first six years, growing up the son of Polish immigrants on New York's East Side. Yet when he began school, he discovered English as "a new treasury" and once described discovering Shakespeare as "a miraculous event." That playwright would become his greatest passion. Besides the festival, he founded the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America and served for years on the board of the International Shakespeare Globe Center, which built a replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre near its original site.

Theater also brought Berger together with his wife, Sandra Berger. They met backstage during a performance of "Brigadoon" while he was a student at the University of Kansas. Following a six-year courtship, they married in 1963. In addition to his wife, Berger is survived by his son Erik Berger.

As administrator and teacher, Berger oversaw the training of thousands, including such well-known actors as Randy and Dennis Quaid, Brent Spiner, Brett Cullen and regional theater star Annalee Jefferies, for many years an Alley company member.

"What a contribution he has made for Houston," said Main Street Theater artistic director Rebecca Greene Udden, who took two directing classes with Berger when she moved here in the early '70s. "He was generous, easygoing, fun to listen to and very committed to his students - just a lovely educator. Many have worked (at Main Street) and other theaters here. To have UH pouring talent into the community has been a huge factor in the growth of Houston theater."

"He is going to leave quite a legacy, " Sargent said when Berger stepped down in 2007. "He has attracted nationally significant theater artists to present a thorough perspective on theater education. His leadership of HSF and its partnership with the school make an excellent example of how two institutions can work together successfully. He has moved the UH school to a position of national recognition, and done so with a sense of what's best for the institution and the students."

On Friday Wallace said Berger was happiest when directing a Shakespeare play at Miller. "Whether you were sitting on the front row or enjoying a glass of wine on a blanket out on the hill, it didn't matter to him; they were all his friends because they loved his friend William Shakespeare."

Wallace said the farewell Berger would most appreciate would be one from "his best friend in life": "Good-night sweet prince, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."